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Houthi forces accused of manipulating food aid in Yemen by the World Food Programme

Houthi forces accused of manipulating food aid in Yemen by the World Food Programme

Murad Makhmudov and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

Yemen is blighted by a sectarian war, regional differences, and the intrigues of major Sunni Muslim nations under the Saudi Arabia-led alliance. Of course, powerful Western nations including America, France, and the United Kingdom have benefitted greatly by obtaining new important military contracts. Therefore, endless bloodshed, the destruction of the already weak infrastructure, malnutrition, cholera, terrorism, and other negative forces, are devastating the nation.

Sadly, even badly needed food supplies and other forms of humanitarian assistance are being manipulated. Hence, the World Food Programme (WFP) is hitting out, in the latest scandal, at Houthi forces for allegedly diverting and manipulating food aid.

Humanitarian food assistance is being diverted to the open market and being misappropriated internally to militia forces in areas under the control of the Houthi movement. In other words, food designed to assist the most vulnerable in Yemen is now another tool to be manipulated in this brutal war.

The Executive Director of the WFP, David Beasley, said strongly, “This conduct amounts to the stealing of food from the mouths of hungry people.”

He continued, “At a time when children are dying in Yemen because they haven’t enough food to eat, that is an outrage. This criminal behavior must stop immediately.”

According to the United Nations, approximately 20 million people are blighted by food insecurity. The degree varies throughout the country but with cholera and malnutrition stalking Yemen – along with a devastated infrastructure and lack of health care facilities – then the crisis is critical. Therefore, it is essential that the Houthi movement works with the WFP in order to solve the crisis because the acquisition is deplorable.

Beasley uttered a warning to forces accused of stealing and manipulating humanitarian assistance. He said the WFP will “have no option but to cease working with those who have been conspiring to deprive large numbers of vulnerable people of the food on which they depend.”